Although environmental tax reforms (ETR) tend to improve incomes across society, they can have mild regressive impacts in that richer households gain more than poorer ones. Care is needed to design ETRs in ways that ensure that certain groups are able to benefit equally. ETR's overall benefits for the economy, environment and society are potentially significant. ETR should therefore be regarded as a key element in the policymaking toolkit for shifting to a green economy.

The global population is congregating in our cities. Eighty per cent of the world’s estimated nine billion people in 2050 are expected to live in urban areas. Our cities and urban areas face many challenges from social to health to environmental. The impacts of cities and urban areas are felt in other regions which supply cities with food, water and energy and absorb pollution and waste. However, the proximity of people, businesses and services associated with the very word ‘city’ means that there are also huge opportunities. Indeed, well designed, well managed urban settings offer a key opportunity for sustainable living.

In May 2008, the Council of Europe's Congress
of Local and Regional Authorities captured the
concerns and desires of urban policy‑makers
and citizens in the title of its new European
Urban Charter: Manifesto for a new urbanity.
Like numerous other international and European
charters, conventions and declarations, the
manifesto describes with some apprehension the
'unprecedented environmental, democratic, cultural,
social and economic challenges' facing urban centres
and their inhabitants.
Our report on quality of life in Europe's cities and
towns reiterates these concerns but also unravels the
many apparent paradoxes of urban development
and the sometimes perplexing realities of urban
Europe today. The report defines a vision for
progress towards a more sustainable, well‑designed
urban future.

PRELUDE is an EEA project to simulate five contrasting future
environmental scenarios for a Europe affected by changing patterns of land use, climate change, agriculture and demographics. The scenarios were created by a group of policy-makers, interest group representatives, experts and independent thinkers from across Europe, combining qualitative analysis and quantitative modelling. This mindstretcher allows you to see how different conditions prompted the various outcomes.